April 30, 2025 • 37 mins
Rachel Pedersen shares her journey from being a single mother on welfare to building an eight-figure business and reaching over a million people with her content. She reveals the mindset shifts and practical strategies that helped her transform her life and build a thriving online empire.
• Growing up in a volatile household that taught her resilience and grit
• Making the pivotal decision to break generational cycles after becoming a single mother
• Turning impatience into a superpower through "manically obsessed" content creation
• The importance of creating from the right emotional state rather than ego
• Treating content creation as "practice" rather than tying it to immediate results
• Setting clear boundaries about what to share online before building a public presence
• Creating income through email list building and low-ticket offers to establish trust
• Finding balance by "glamorizing" the mundane moments between high-profile achievements
Close your eyes and think five or ten years ahead. Ask yourself what your future self likely did to create exactly where they are today, and then decide if you want to replicate those steps.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Walt Bayliss (00:00):
Today's episode of the Influencer Empires podcast
is brought to you by the EmpireProgram with White Label Suite
powering our influencers andbuilding their empires.
All righty, ladies andgentlemen, thank you so much for
joining us here on the showToday.
Here we have a special guestthat, honestly, has pulled my
heartstrings, made me just blushin amazement and watch with
(00:20):
incredible success as I've gotto know her through her content.
Now she is a best-sellingauthor of the book Unfiltered,
which is available on Amazonright now.
She has the native reach ofover a million people across
multiple platforms, including160,000 plus subscribers on
YouTube, 296,000 followers pluson Facebook another Facebook
(00:42):
page, I think with 400,000followers 340,000 followers on
Instagram.
She runs an eight figurebusiness, but it wasn't always
the case.
13 years ago she was a singlemother on welfare and today she
reaches more than a millionpeople every time she posts.
She is the incredible leader,the amazing and inspiring
(01:05):
influencer that is RachelPeterson.
Rachel, thank you so much forjoining us in the show.
I am just thrilled to have youhere.
Rachel Pedersen (01:12):
Walt, thank you so much for having me.
This is going to be a blast.
I can tell
this is going to be fun.
I promise I will make you lookgood and I honestly that makes
my job easy today because thisis an amazing story.
So I was looking through someof your history and I've got a
couple of your posts up herethat I just want to kind of
reference as I'm getting thisthrough.
Tiktok famous and theopportunity when is enough
(01:33):
enough that one really got me Anopen letter man.
That one absolutely blew meaway.
It seems to me that your storyis the essence of the phoenix.
It's the rising from the ashes.
It's coming from nothing.
It's building up to somethingincredible.
How did this all get startedfor you?
Oh my gosh.
First and foremost, I alwaysloved the analogy of a phoenix
(01:55):
because I was raised in ashes.
My whole world was pretty messygrowing up.
It was a pretty volatile housethat I grew up in, so I learned
things like resilience and gritand how to, I guess, almost like
visualize or daydream a betteropportunity, because there was a
lot of alone time and so that'skind of where I started to
(02:19):
imagine things like what if Iwrote a book about like a dragon
or a woman who drowns in ariver this sounds so morbid, but
drowns in a river and comesback and her voice is able to
bring things to life?
And that was at the time oflike, oh gosh, I was like 11
years old and I was writingthese entire novels.
But, truth be told, my life waspretty bumpy.
I kind of went down prettyrough paths for quite a few
(02:42):
years.
I was a big time party girl.
I loved to have fun, I love togo out, but it got me into a lot
of trouble and ultimately Ibecame a single mom, ended up on
welfare and I just rememberwhen my daughter was a few
months old, I started thinkinglike am I actively working to
break the cycles I grew up in,or am I by default just going
(03:05):
down those same paths?
I'm feeling like there's adysfunctional relationship.
I'm about to get evicted from acondo with a baby, like just
everything is falling apart Atthat point.
I'm an alcoholic, because Ican't even like function to face
the day.
Oh, just shame is like takingover.
And so it's interesting becauseI made decisions in that time
where I looked at Dakota, mybaby at the time.
(03:28):
and I said, just so, you know,life is never going to look the
same again.
I will not let us get here.
But then, truth be told, ittook about probably gosh four or
five more years before I evenstarted a business and things
started to change.
So yeah
Walt Bayliss (03:44):
Wow, wow there's.
Jim Rowan says there's a daythat turns your life around.
There's a day that you just sayenough's enough, I'm done, and
I will never be the same again.
It sounds like that was the dayfor you.
So, coming from this, you and I, we were talking just before I
hit record.
It was amazing.
I was training an AI engine tosay who's the best social media
(04:08):
manager in the world?
And your name came up.
So today, as we stand here, youare widely acclaimed as the
social media queen and as thebest social media manager in the
world.
A short time ago, you startedyour business and now you have
that opportunity, that influencewhere I was reading through
your clients native organicreach of over a hundred million
(04:30):
people in a year.
That seems like a rapid rise.
When you turned the dial,you're saying like there was
four or five years between thatdecision and the action.
When you turn the dial, itseems like you turned it to 11.
Like, what did you at thatpoint?
That's just rocketed yoursuccess so quickly.
Rachel Pedersen (04:50):
So one big thing is that I'm not very
patient.
I noticed a lot of otherentrepreneurs feel the same way.
Right, Like we're not patient,we don't do good at like waiting
your turn or sitting still andjust like hope for the best.
You know.
So when I start to do anythingand this was true from the
beginning of my business I'm allor nothing.
(05:11):
I am, uh, manically obsessedplay on words, but also
manically obsessed um, or Idon't care anymore and I'm over
it.
And so, instead of just likeposting you know, the one
YouTube video a week, I, anytimethat I wanted to grow, I'd be
like I'm going to post five toseven YouTube videos per week,
(05:32):
full length, and everything.
Um, when a lot of people werelike, oh, I email my list like
once a month to once a week, Iwas like I'm going to email my
list three to five times a day,not a day a week with massive,
massive value and with systemsand tips.
So, truth be told, I actuallythink it was one of my downfalls
or weaknesses the lack ofpatience that made me say I'm
(05:53):
going to kick it into next level.
And, truth be told, I thinkwhen you come from nothing and I
mean like I grew up in poverty.
I think when you come fromnothing and you can tell me what
you think about this, I don'tknow if you grew up in poverty
or had like a wild backgroundlike that.
Yeah yeah, it's almost like you.
You only know failure.
(06:13):
So if you fall it's kind of notthat scary.
It's more like I don't want tostay here, I need to figure
something out.
So I just go at that really,really hard with anything I do.
Walt Bayliss (06:28):
And do you think that's the same with anyone?
Do you think that, like lookingat the success for your clients
or people that you're workingwith?
Do you feel like that's a leveryou can pull for anyone, in any
business?
If you do the right thing, it'sgreat, but if you do the right
thing at 10X, baby, stand back.
This is going to rock.
Is that a formula that youengage?
Rachel Pedersen (06:48):
Yes, but there's one missing thing that
most people don't understand.
So a lot of people will be likeI want to do that and they'll go
and hire like an agency, andthey'll be like I want to hit a
hundred thousand followers, Iwant this.
That the other thing they hirethe agency, the agency's posting
five to 10 times a day andsomething just isn't clicking.
And it's because everything hasto start with the right fuel.
So is the fuel like I want this, I crave this, I desire this,
(07:12):
et cetera, like this issomething good in my life or is
the fuel ego?
And the interesting thing isbased on what the fuel is, and
I've seen this time and timeagain with clients.
I won't say any names, but whenego takes over, it trickles
down even in the videos thatthey create and the photos that
they shoot and the things thatthey're talking about, whether
it's ego or wanting to getrevenge, if there's a negative
(07:36):
fuel, it goes all the waythrough the pipeline and I've
seen this and it's really hardto explain
Walt Bayliss (07:43):
how do you coach to conduct to combat that?
Rachel Pedersen (07:46):
Oh man, I don't , and I know that sounds kind of
weird, but I'm like if I weregiving you the marketing and the
therapizing side of things, I'dhave to charge a lot more and
be a lot more credentialed.
But I'll sometimes just saylike hey, so, and I keep it
light.
Before you record your content,I want you to take five minutes
(08:07):
.
Here's a YouTube video I wantyou to watch and just close your
eyes.
Listen to this for five minutes, and sometimes that will help.
But sometimes people will belike I'm stressed and I have all
this stuff to do with mybusiness and I'm like, oh my
gosh, that is carrying over intoyour content and people are
repelled because you're stressed.
Walt Bayliss (08:23):
Yeah, wow.
So so you're not coaching,you're not coaching through it,
because everybody's got to walktheir own path right, which is
which is absolutely right.
Um, but what's the flip side ofthat, Rachel?
What's the?
So, if that ego or negativityis flowing into people's content
and that's affecting them, theymake it, they're doing all this
stuff, but you know it's nothitting the notes.
Um what's the what's the flipside of that?
(08:50):
How do people approach it andwin?
Rachel Pedersen (08:50):
Okay?
So one of the biggest things is, when you look at your entire
business and everything youcould create content about,
don't create content about thestuff you hate.
Don't create content about thestuff that is exhausting to talk
about.
I've actually seen a lot ofinfluencers, and some of my
clients as well, where theynever actually delivered
anything about their actualbusiness model.
They only talked about likemindset or something, and it
worked really well because theywere so passionate about it that
(09:12):
they attracted people to them.
So look for what sparks likejoy and love and a desire to you
know, slow down and teach andsupport and inspire, like when
those things happen.
That's the right fuel andthat's the time to create.
Yeah, you know, Walt, sometimesI'll step away when I'm supposed
(09:32):
to create content and I'll sayI'm cranky right now Cause I saw
this one thing that made melike feel off.
And my husband will be like doyou want to go play around a
Mario cart, or do you want tomake something?
You know, food wise?
Like let's get you into adifferent state.
And then it helps me shift.
And then I'm like, okay, now Ican create again.
Walt Bayliss (09:49):
I love that.
I love that.
And looking at your content,like when I look at, I scrolled
some of your Instagram reels andyou know, as I mentioned before
, we're just looking through toget to know you.
You, you live that.
Like I can look through yourcontent, there's not any posts.
I would say like I'm surethere's probably 10% somewhere,
but there's not any posts thatseem to be.
You should do this in yourbusiness.
This is how you should.
You're literally just talkingabout who you are, what you're
(10:11):
doing, how you're feeling andthe joy that you're bringing
into the work, that you have,like you're living that.
So getting into a differentstate.
That's interesting to me Again.
Is that a tip that youconsciously do before you create
?
Are you actively gettingyourself into that state every
single time?
Rachel Pedersen (10:29):
Yes.
So this is something I did forquite a few years and then I
stopped doing it and over theyears I noticed that my attitude
and performance went downsignificantly, like across the
board, and I was like, Ooh, I'mseeing that, Like I'm having to
restart some like positivemomentum, and so I was pulling
from old videos to like restartthat and then get into a better
(10:51):
state before creating.
I do this before any part of mybusiness now and it has made a
massive difference.
Like I'm talking hundreds ofpercent worth of growth.
But here's the biggest thinglike, Walt, I'm having fun, and
so I'm having fun and I'mcreating and enjoying the
process.
People sense that on the otherside and so the more you can get
(11:14):
yourself into a good placebefore you create anything for
your business, the better.
Walt Bayliss (11:19):
Nice.
I read somewhere one of yourposts you were talking about.
Not every post will go viraland you talk a lot about the
doctor's call their office thepractice, so getting this
content regularly.
You're seeing hits.
I'm seeing some of your TikToksare half a million views and
above and I know the TikTokchannel has got an issue at the
moment, but there's a rebuildingphase and again, I'm seeing
(11:40):
that going through.
So I'm actually I'm loving thefact that I'm seeing you grow
that again from nothing, whichis incredible.
But yeah, so some of yourInstagram reels, some of your
posts, are getting half amillion views and some are
getting 150.
But it doesn't affect yourcadence.
You're literally just goingthrough that practice to hit the
(12:01):
thing.
Can you tell me your analogyabout the basketball side of
things, because I think that'sreally apt
Rachel Pedersen (12:06):
which one
Walt Bayliss (12:07):
You're talking about?
Practice being on the court?
Rachel Pedersen (12:10):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, okay.
So this is really big.
I think about this all the time.
This is true for businessowners, social media managers,
marketers, anyone who has tocreate content.
Most of the time, what we do iswe're like, okay, I'm going to
post three to five times a day,I'm going to supercharge things,
make it happen.
You do that for about a week.
(12:31):
You don't get the results thatyou want, so you stop.
But the thing about practice isit is not dependent upon whether
or not you win a game.
You don't say, oh, I lost thatgame.
This whole practice thing isn'tworking, and so I'm a big
believer of call it a practice.
This isn't something where youhave to get results.
(12:52):
Results might be like an addedbenefit.
That's kind of exciting.
Like, as I'm building my TikTokback up for the second time,
I'm like you know what I'm justgonna get that practice in.
I'm going to remember what itis to create new things and find
new trends and all of that.
It's just practice and thatreally it truly takes the
pressure out of posting andcreating.
(13:14):
Um, I think a lot about likeall of the legends in basketball
.
I actually don't likebasketball, which is really
funny.
I like football and otherthings, but not basketball.
All the legends seem to talkabout how they would, like you
know, go and do 500 shots everymorning before practice and I
(13:34):
was like I love that concept, ifwe were all to just keep
practicing regardless of whetheror not the results are coming.
I think sometimes you get theresults a lot faster because you
stick on it.
Walt Bayliss (13:44):
I love it.
I love it.
I was listening to 10X isEasier Than 2X by Dan Sullivan.
Rachel Pedersen (13:49):
Oh yeah
Walt Bayliss (13:50):
I was talking about this concept of the
off-camera work, and this isexactly what you're talking
about here.
Where it's the off-camera work,even though you might have the
camera on, it's not the postthat goes viral, that makes your
viral post happen, it's all theposts in between, where you're
practicing your craft, whenyou're working out your message,
(14:11):
and then when you run on thefield.
You've taken enough throws,you've taken enough tackles,
you've hit enough that that onejust rockets.
And I love that analogy wherewe're talking about sporting
superstars.
The best quarterbacks in theworld are getting paid hundreds
of millions of dollars to play13 minutes on a Saturday right,
it's like, but it's the offfield work that does it.
(14:32):
So, doing that practice, Rachel, when?
So you've built this incrediblefollowing.
You have amazing, amazinglyloyal people who are in your
threads and in your channel, andI see the ones that don't fit
that mold, and that's okay,because they're part of the
audience as well.
When did you start to describeyourself as an influencer?
Rachel Pedersen (14:55):
This is interesting because I have never
actually referred to myself asan influencer, with the
exception of one weird round ofbios randomly had influencer in
it.
I don't remember when or how ithappened, but I remember one
day I looked at my profile and Iwas like influencer no, take
(15:18):
that off the list.
Which is interesting because Iknow I've built influence in the
space of like business,marketing and books, believe it
or not, but I don't see myselfas an influencer because our
sponsorship deals that we makeare a small part of our revenue
it's so small.
(15:38):
So, if anything, I'm like okay,it's more like a business buddy
who also recommends the bestthings, tries out tools I don't
know, but I don't see myself asyeah, I don't see myself as an
influencer.
Isn't that weird?
I've never
Walt Bayliss (15:53):
it's very weird.
I'm talking to Rachel Pedersenand she doesn't see herself as
an influencer.
When you post,
Rachel Pedersen (15:59):
yeah
people listen, like you'reamazing.
So I mean, take away theaudience.
You're a mom, you're aninfluencer by default.
Like what you say, people, itmatters to people and they
listen.
Um, so I find that fascinating.
So one of the things thatyou've talked about as well is
that you have this highs andlows when it comes to fame and
(16:21):
infamy and viral.
Standing on stage doing thatkind of stuff and physically
asking yourself, whoa, that wasa high and a bit of a crash like
, damn, what's next?
Do you still go through thatnow?
Do you have, do you still havethat highs and lows with the
feeling of success and contentand and message, and then whoa,
(16:42):
yep
Walt Bayliss (16:43):
that's done, what's next?
Do you still have that?
Rachel Pedersen (16:45):
oh so there's two things and they kind of
intertwine.
So there's that side of thebusiness that we all experience,
right the high, and then thelike.
I just feel like dirt andnothing feels important because
yesterday it was so important orwhatever.
There's that side, and thenthere's also the side that I'm
bipolar, and so because I'mbipolar I naturally can feel
(17:08):
myself shifting back and forthbetween hey, let's go manic or
hypomanic to let's stay in bedall day, like everything sucks.
So something that I've beendoing that helps with both sides
of that equation that bipolarand then the, the highs and then
the crashes of reality.
Number one is when I start tofeel myself get way too amped up
(17:29):
, I go stop.
The higher we go here, thelower the crash is going to be
later, because if somethingrequires that energy and
adrenaline, like we got tobalance this out, something that
really helps me is when I getto do events and big things with
Paul.
My husband Paul is so great andhe's um, he's really balanced.
Like nothing gets him excitedabout, like meeting people or
(17:53):
even talking to celebrities.
He doesn't care.
So he's just so calm that I canalmost just go and like ground
myself just by being with him.
Um, that helps a lot.
And then, um, something elsethat really has been helping too
is I've been trying this soundsso cheesy and so millennial,
but I've been really working tolike glamorize and love the
(18:15):
moments in life that feel somundane.
You know how it's like you goand you speak at an event and
then your kids are still likemom, come wipe my butt, you know
, or whatever, and you're like Idon't feel glamorous at all.
I've started to just kind offall in love with the
in-betweens, the things thatdon't seem important.
Walt Bayliss (18:34):
Rachel, are you telling me that you're living
life?
Is this what you're telling me?
Are you telling me that you'refinding joy?
In life.
Is that what's going on here?
that's fantastic.
Rachel Pedersen (18:45):
n I also think most people don't even know it
exists, because it took me along time to experience it, you
know, but it's, it's beautiful.
So that helps me not get asjazzed about the highs.
Be around people who like bringyou back to earth a little bit,
because otherwise you startbelieving your own um hype,
which gets weird.
Walt Bayliss (19:04):
I love it.
Well, I mean you.
You come across so sobeautifully well, so so humble
and so and yet so controlled inin your direction, which is,
which is absolutely amazing.
You mentioned.
There's something about that Iwanted to dive into for for a
second.
So, as we talk with withinfluencers, and one of the
things that constantly amazes meis that, on a survey of school
children, school-aged highschool kids, over 50% responded
(19:27):
to the question what do you wantto do after school?
By saying they want to be aninfluencer.
So we want to create thisamazing space where people can
come and entertain, educate, beenthusiastic and create that
attention.
You said something there aboutsponsorships which I thought was
really fascinating.
When, when did influence becomecashflow?
Rachel Pedersen (19:50):
Oh, um, oh.
For me, like, when did I get myfirst sponsorship?
It was, oh gosh, I I don't wantto mess up the dates, but I
want to say it was close to um,maybe seven years ago that I got
my first sponsorship.
Let's see, would that be great.
Walt Bayliss (20:07):
What happened?
How did it come to be?
Rachel Pedersen (20:10):
I don't even remember my first one, which is
so, actually, yes, I do.
It was 2015.
I was still in my day job andthis guy was like hey, I saw
your videos.
I like your videos.
Would you be willing to tryghost pepper jerky on your
channel for a reaction?
So I got a free bag of ghostpepper jerky.
(20:30):
Did not want to eat more thanone slice of it.
It was hot, hot, hot, hot and Irecorded a reaction video.
That was my first one ever.
And then I want to say I don'trecall.
Walt Bayliss (20:43):
That brand, by the way, is celebrating their move
right now, like seven years old,you're still chatting about it.
It's amazing,
isn't that so funny?
Yeah, and then I just you know,I got some smaller ones over the
years where people would belike, can I pay you like $200 to
post about us on Instagram?
But I always had the rule andthis was really big and I
(21:05):
recommend this for anyone who'slike new to becoming an
influencer or gettingsponsorships.
I always said, like I need tomake sure that this brand aligns
, so you have to either send mea sample or let me log into your
software or see what, like, thebackend of everything looks
like.
So I've heavily vetted a lot ofmy sponsorships and it's kept
me from ever feeling like asellout even though there have
been some big deals where I justcouldn't recommend whatever it
(21:27):
was they were offering.
Yeah, nice, I love it.
So is there a directcorrelation for you in, in your
following compared to yourbusiness income, like, is there
a line that you can draw betweenboth as your, as your influence
is growing, so is your company,so is your, so is the bank
account?
Rachel Pedersen (21:41):
Ooh, most of the time, yes, but there's one
thing that I've noticed reallyoverrides things, and that's if
I'm like not mentally, but ifI'm just in a funk for a while.
It doesn't seem like we haveany followers at that point, or
email subscribers.
It's impossible to get peopleto jump into anything because
(22:02):
I'm not excited about it.
But besides that, across theboard, I've noticed like, yes,
which is kind of cool.
Walt Bayliss (22:10):
Can I ask you a favor?
Can I get you to?
Can I get you to look back fora moment?
When we started, when westarted this call, I read out
some numbers for you 160,000people subscribe to your YouTube
channel.
Over 400,000 people follow youon one of the Facebook pages and
another 300,000 people onanother one.
Over 340,000 people follow youon Instagram.
(22:32):
I just want to get you to pausefor a second and look back at
where you've come from, becausethose numbers are absolutely
amazing.
like the view from where you'reat and I know you've still got
mountains to climb but the viewfrom where you're at.
When you look back, there's aheck of a lot of people that are
(22:54):
grateful to who you are andwhat you're doing, and you're
bringing that message with youall the way, and I just I
couldn't applaud you enough forthat.
Rachel Pedersen (23:03):
Thank you so much.
I have a lot of moments where Isit back and I'm just I still
this is going to sound funnybecause I'm not like a celebrity
or anything, but there are Istill feel like such just a
normal person, you know likeespecially when I'm in my home
setting and with my family.
And so when I look at thosekind of numbers or like my kids
(23:31):
have friends over and they'll belike is that a YouTube
subscribe play button, and I'mlike, yeah, I get kind of like
almost embarrassed, but then I'mlike, wait a second, that's
something to be so proud of.
But it still feels wild becausethere's so much of me that is
still the same girl who startedthis whole journey, you know.
Walt Bayliss (23:45):
That's cool and I think that's why that's why it
works so well for you.
So what's what's a day in thelife for you now Like maybe even
a week in the life?
What's what is what is a dayworth for you?
What is a week look like?
And you know you've got yourteam around you and the whole
world going on.
What does that daily life looklike for you?
Rachel Pedersen (24:03):
Okay.
So Paul and I wake up in themorning, the first thing we do
is we make the bed every morning.
So we make the bed quick, pickup the whole house before the
kids wake up.
It's usually only like a fiveminute pickup because we pick up
usually close to before bed too, and then we get.
He gets the kids ready while Iprepare our breakfast, like the
(24:23):
healthy breakfast that we'reeating.
We usually go on a walk two tothree miles in the morning and
listen to memoirs from businessowners and celebrities and, like
Shoe Dog is our favorite handsdown.
Walt Bayliss (24:37):
Oh my gosh, oh my God.
Reddit.
I've like ingested it, it's sogood.
Rachel Pedersen (24:43):
So good, so funny, so real, so, oh, it's
amazing.
Um, and then we actually thishas been the last couple of
months, this has been newer sowe've actually been working in
our like, formal dining room uh,sorry, formal living room, and
we're sitting side by side onthe couch working on different
things at the same time.
So Paul's been gettingcross-trained in how to manage
(25:04):
social media, like me, because Ilove the idea of me being able
to like airdrop photos and belike hey, can you just post this
.
And he's also testing forsomething else, which is I'll
talk about that in a moment um,and then, yeah, we, I make lunch
at home um five days a week, soI'll make lunch and then we eat
lunch, we talk, we go onanother walk, um, we play mario
(25:26):
kart.
Um, he does household things.
I finish up work and then it's.
This is like really boring, Ifeel like
Walt Bayliss (25:35):
no, this is life
Rachel Pedersen (25:36):
we take breaks where we write in our fantasy
fiction novel throughout the day, and then, um, let's see the
kids.
We do family dinners everysingle night.
Him or I take turns cooking.
Um, we do a lot of movies,movie nights, either with the
kids or with me and Paul, andthen every night I work on
coding my new software that'sgoing to be coming out very,
(25:59):
very soon.
Walt Bayliss (26:00):
So I'm excited to hear about that.
We'll make sure we give that abig plug for you as well.
What is it?
Can you give us the over?
What does it do, or is there?
Do you want to keep the wrapson it for now?
Rachel Pedersen (26:09):
I can share this.
It creates all of your contentthat's in your voice, with one
click.
Walt Bayliss (26:15):
Oh yeah, and created by the social media
queen herself.
So this sounds super exciting.
You're sitting on the couch,you've got the work going on,
you've got the vision of thesoftware coming through.
You've got a company to run.
How many people are in the teamnow with you?
Rachel Pedersen (26:30):
Oh, I am so bad at keeping track of this.
There are four.
Five, all right.
Don't take my word for this,because I'm not 100% at any
given time.
Okay, there are six full-timepeople I'm pretty sure, but
don't quote me on that and threefreelancers or part-time people
(26:54):
.
Walt Bayliss (26:55):
Wow, Amazing.
So part of your work, I wouldimagine, is getting the next
step over to them, keeping thatbig picture and making sure that
they're all working in line.
Did you?
When did you get your firstteam member?
Did you?
Did you do it solo for a whileand then just like need somebody
to help?
Rachel Pedersen (27:11):
Okay.
So I built this business ofspecifically the social media
management side while I wasstill in a nine to five, so I
was like working on my lunchbreaks in the mornings, nights,
anytime.
I finished my work early, but Iactually built up the side gig
to fully replace my nine to fivebefore I left my nine to five.
(27:33):
So I hired a VA while I was inmy nine to five just to manage
emails and make sure I didn'tmiss anything.
Yeah, and I think I only had herfor like two or three hours a
week, so it was super affordable, but it like got me through the
time where I was doubling up.
Walt Bayliss (27:49):
Wow, amazing, and I think that's such a massive
lesson that entrepreneurs learnby struggling, and it's great
that you picked it up so quickly.
And now, of course, you knowyou get to be the conductor of
the orchestra.
While the orchestra are playing, you get to set the beat, which
is really, really cool.
So, starting now, as we said,you've got TikTok on the regrow,
you know, you've got thisincredible software coming
(28:12):
through, you've got greatprojects that you're working on.
How much of your energy isfocused on what to do next and
how much of your energy is spenton who I am, what I do in here,
in the family, in the home,like what's your energy ratio,
do you think?
Rachel Pedersen (28:27):
Okay, ooh, what do we do next?
That is probably I keep it lowon purpose, because otherwise I
go all in too fast and I'vestill done this very quickly.
Um, so I try to keep it under40%, focused on like what's next
and new future projects thataren't immediately applicable,
(28:51):
and I spend a lot of time I'moverly introspective about, like
, how am I doing as a mom?
What is my place in this world?
What is my real identity?
Am I loud or am I reserved,like, or am I both?
I don't know.
I spend a lot of time learningabout that and then I end up
going down psychology likerabbit holes a lot just to learn
(29:12):
about the human brain.
I find it so fascinating why wedo the things that we do.
So, yeah, that's probablycloser to like 60%, I don't know
, it was 120%, an option
Walt Bayliss (29:24):
Only for entrepreneurs, that's like there
is.
Only entrepreneurs have thatsetting.
That's very cool.
So what's the biggest mistakeyou've made in this whole
journey?
Rachel Pedersen (29:35):
Oh my gosh, there's not just one.
Some people, I feel like, canlearn things from other people's
mistakes and they listen toadvice, and I'm not that person,
so I've learned you either.
It's so hard.
I've made pretty much everysingle mistake that you can make
, um, and one of the big onesthat I've made would be
(29:57):
partnerships.
I'm not great at partnerships.
Um, I'm not even gonna say it'sthe people that I tried to
partner with.
I think that the way I work isreally hard.
For a lot of people it's kindof obsessive If I'm not careful.
It's obsessive.
I want to try to perfecteverything as much as possible
(30:20):
and over-deliver.
This sounds like good things,but they're not Over-deliver
with excellence.
Then I become really hard onmyself and the project if it's
not So partnerships have beenhard because I just haven't met
somebody that quite matches thatin this not even matches it,
but balances it.
Paul's probably the bestbusiness partner I've had.
(30:42):
We've done pretty well together.
Walt Bayliss (30:44):
I would say that that's a pretty strong that's a
pretty strong base to start from.
That's pretty good.
Rachel Pedersen (30:48):
And we're so opposite that it actually makes
sense.
It just like it ebbs and flowswith each other really well.
Another huge mistake that Imade for a long time was not
stashing away enough cash andsetting myself up for like
long-term success sooner.
So, like my first many, manymillions, I was like I'm going
(31:11):
to get my teeth done, I'm goingto buy my in-laws a car, like,
and so I, just I, I.
It's not that I wasted it, it'sjust it's not here anymore.
So, yeah, as soon as you canlike, just start stashing money
away for, like retirement orinvestments or anything Um yeah
(31:34):
, the third biggest mistake Ithink that I have made Ooh is
that when I first started mybusiness, I did it not based on
something I was passionate aboutbut, based on something that I
could get good at Does that makesense, Like yeah, it was a, it
was a path, it was a potential,and so I've had to like work,
(31:57):
even though the last few years,to like find a new way to fall
in love with social media andcontent and tying it back into
psychology and human behavioralscience, that's helped a lot.
But I'm like, oh my gosh, if Iwould have, you know, just gone
slightly this way or slightly inthis direction, I might've been
able to done, have done thedone for you and scaled the
(32:21):
agency side better.
Walt Bayliss (32:23):
Okay, nice, I love it.
So, like there's, there's goingto be people listening to this,
uh, this podcast that are justgetting started there.
They're they're wanting tocreate that following and that
influence.
Rachel, what would you say?
What would you say you would dodifferently or how would you
you guide them as a potentialfuture influencer, someone that
your kids will be listening toon YouTube in you know, in a few
years time?
(32:43):
What would you say to thatperson today to help them on
their journey to get started?
Rachel Pedersen (32:48):
Oh man.
So number one before you startcreating, make sure you, your
partner, your spouse, whatever,and even sometimes your kids,
depending on their ages you guyshave clear boundaries of.
This is what we won't talkabout on camera, because it's
really easy to just be like, oh,there's this trend and before
(33:09):
you know it, you say things thatyou wish you hadn't said online
.
So that's a big one.
Paul and I have clear like hereare things we won't talk about,
or our sentences that phrase usaway from a topic for, like
interviews and stuff.
That's number one.
Number two is just spend sometime studying your favorite
(33:32):
celebrities comment sections,and the reason for that is
because I want you not to bediscouraged, but instead to be
like okay, I think, fill in theblank, selena Gomez is wonderful
, I think Adam Sandler iswonderful, or whatever.
Fill in the blank, go and lookat how many people hate on them
actively, because you have torecognize that it's not personal
(33:54):
and these people don't knowthem, and they're making this
decision based on a movie thatperson did five years ago or
whatever.
So study that and just knowthat comments are not personal.
Number three is when you aretriggered by comments or if
you're going viral or goingthrough an attack online, which
can happen rightfully andwrongfully.
So make sure that you deletethe app from your phone and
(34:19):
don't log in until it's over.
Because, otherwise, yeah, theoverwhelm.
I've gone viral, good and bad,both ways many times, and the
bad ones it can make you feellike the world is over.
And you get all those pings andnotifications and every single
one is like you suck.
I hope you fall off a cliff,like I hope you.
You know, like those kinds ofthings, it can be too much.
(34:40):
So delete the app or havesomeone that you trust, like
change your password for a fewdays and let them just monitor
it.
Tell them not to reply toanything.
So that's yeah, that's probablythose are the biggest things I
would say, but it's, it's a wildadventure.
Walt Bayliss (34:57):
What about?
What about monetization?
I have a little section that Ilike to call the monetization
minute.
For those people that arestarting, what would you suggest
as their best ways ofgenerating income from this
influence in 60 seconds or less,Like what's the?
What's your thoughts there?
Rachel Pedersen (35:11):
Number one create lead magnets, free
resources, et cetera.
Get people on your email list,make that your main focus beyond
creating content.
That's where you want to directpeople to.
And then, number two create anoffer Um, that's maybe low
ticket to build trust $7, $24,whatever and email that to your
(35:34):
list along with some value aboutwhatever topic it is that
you're diving into.
Repeat create content.
Walt Bayliss (35:42):
Amazing Done.
That's it Exactly.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are inthe presence of greatness
Rachel Peterson, the queen ofsocial media.
The journey that you've gonethrough is absolutely
inspirational to me, Even justlooking at some of the posts and
your comments there about howto deal with the haters and
stuff online.
You're one of the strongest, Iguess, moral, compass based
(36:04):
people that I've come across inour search.
I highly suggest for anybodythat's listening guys, get
across to rachelpetersoncom.
We'll make sure that the linkis in the show notes.
Get in touch with this lady.
She's amazing.
She's a trailblazer.
Rachel, thank you so much forspending the time.
I've really loved your insightsinto the world of being an
(36:25):
influencer.
Is there anything else thatyou'd like to chat through
before we wrap?
Any messages you'd like to sendout?
Rachel Pedersen (36:32):
Ooh, this is going to sound interesting, but
anytime anyone listening to thisgets stuck.
If you are working ondeveloping a software or getting
your social media content out,take a couple of moments.
Close your eyes and think fiveor 10 years ahead.
Think to that future version ofyourself and ask yourself what
(36:54):
did they likely do that createdexactly where they are today,
and then decide if you want toreplicate those steps.
Walt Bayliss (37:01):
I love it Connecting the dots backwards
Absolutely incredible.
Rachel Peterson.
Thank you so much.
Guys.
Rachelpetersoncom.
Get in touch with Rachel,follow along on every channel,
your channel of choice.
Rachel.
Again thank you to you and toPaul and the kids for making the
time available.
We cannot wait to follow yourstory along.
Please pop back in and tell usabout the software as it's going
live.
We want to make sure we givethat a plug for you guys as well
(37:23):
.
And guys, get in touch withRachel.
This is the way forward tofollow people who are really
blazing the trail.
Rachel, thank you so much foryour time.
Rachel Pedersen (37:36):
Thank you for having me.
Today's episode of the Influencer Empires podcast
is brought to you by the EmpireProgram with White Label Suite
powering our influencers andbuilding their empires.
All righty, ladies andgentlemen, thank you so much for
joining us here on the showToday.
Here we have a special guestthat, honestly, has pulled my
heartstrings, made me just blushin amazement and watch with
(00:20):
incredible success as I've gotto know her through her content.
Now she is a best-sellingauthor of the book Unfiltered,
which is available on Amazonright now.
She has the native reach ofover a million people across
multiple platforms, including160,000 plus subscribers on
YouTube, 296,000 followers pluson Facebook another Facebook
(00:42):
page, I think with 400,000followers 340,000 followers on
Instagram.
She runs an eight figurebusiness, but it wasn't always
the case.
13 years ago she was a singlemother on welfare and today she
reaches more than a millionpeople every time she posts.
She is the incredible leader,the amazing and inspiring
(01:05):
influencer that is RachelPeterson.
Rachel, thank you so much forjoining us in the show.
I am just thrilled to have youhere.
Rachel Pedersen (01:12):
Walt, thank you so much for having me.
This is going to be a blast.
I can tell
this is going to be fun.
I promise I will make you lookgood and I honestly that makes
my job easy today because thisis an amazing story.
So I was looking through someof your history and I've got a
couple of your posts up herethat I just want to kind of
reference as I'm getting thisthrough.
Tiktok famous and theopportunity when is enough
(01:33):
enough that one really got me Anopen letter man.
That one absolutely blew meaway.
It seems to me that your storyis the essence of the phoenix.
It's the rising from the ashes.
It's coming from nothing.
It's building up to somethingincredible.
How did this all get startedfor you?
Oh my gosh.
First and foremost, I alwaysloved the analogy of a phoenix
(01:55):
because I was raised in ashes.
My whole world was pretty messygrowing up.
It was a pretty volatile housethat I grew up in, so I learned
things like resilience and gritand how to, I guess, almost like
visualize or daydream a betteropportunity, because there was a
lot of alone time and so that'skind of where I started to
(02:19):
imagine things like what if Iwrote a book about like a dragon
or a woman who drowns in ariver this sounds so morbid, but
drowns in a river and comesback and her voice is able to
bring things to life?
And that was at the time oflike, oh gosh, I was like 11
years old and I was writingthese entire novels.
But, truth be told, my life waspretty bumpy.
I kind of went down prettyrough paths for quite a few
(02:42):
years.
I was a big time party girl.
I loved to have fun, I love togo out, but it got me into a lot
of trouble and ultimately Ibecame a single mom, ended up on
welfare and I just rememberwhen my daughter was a few
months old, I started thinkinglike am I actively working to
break the cycles I grew up in,or am I by default just going
(03:05):
down those same paths?
I'm feeling like there's adysfunctional relationship.
I'm about to get evicted from acondo with a baby, like just
everything is falling apart Atthat point.
I'm an alcoholic, because Ican't even like function to face
the day.
Oh, just shame is like takingover.
And so it's interesting becauseI made decisions in that time
where I looked at Dakota, mybaby at the time.
(03:28):
and I said, just so, you know,life is never going to look the
same again.
I will not let us get here.
But then, truth be told, ittook about probably gosh four or
five more years before I evenstarted a business and things
started to change.
So yeah
Walt Bayliss (03:44):
Wow, wow there's.
Jim Rowan says there's a daythat turns your life around.
There's a day that you just sayenough's enough, I'm done, and
I will never be the same again.
It sounds like that was the dayfor you.
So, coming from this, you and I, we were talking just before I
hit record.
It was amazing.
I was training an AI engine tosay who's the best social media
(04:08):
manager in the world?
And your name came up.
So today, as we stand here, youare widely acclaimed as the
social media queen and as thebest social media manager in the
world.
A short time ago, you startedyour business and now you have
that opportunity, that influencewhere I was reading through
your clients native organicreach of over a hundred million
(04:30):
people in a year.
That seems like a rapid rise.
When you turned the dial,you're saying like there was
four or five years between thatdecision and the action.
When you turn the dial, itseems like you turned it to 11.
Like, what did you at thatpoint?
That's just rocketed yoursuccess so quickly.
Rachel Pedersen (04:50):
So one big thing is that I'm not very
patient.
I noticed a lot of otherentrepreneurs feel the same way.
Right, Like we're not patient,we don't do good at like waiting
your turn or sitting still andjust like hope for the best.
You know.
So when I start to do anythingand this was true from the
beginning of my business I'm allor nothing.
(05:11):
I am, uh, manically obsessedplay on words, but also
manically obsessed um, or Idon't care anymore and I'm over
it.
And so, instead of just likeposting you know, the one
YouTube video a week, I, anytimethat I wanted to grow, I'd be
like I'm going to post five toseven YouTube videos per week,
(05:32):
full length, and everything.
Um, when a lot of people werelike, oh, I email my list like
once a month to once a week, Iwas like I'm going to email my
list three to five times a day,not a day a week with massive,
massive value and with systemsand tips.
So, truth be told, I actuallythink it was one of my downfalls
or weaknesses the lack ofpatience that made me say I'm
(05:53):
going to kick it into next level.
And, truth be told, I thinkwhen you come from nothing and I
mean like I grew up in poverty.
I think when you come fromnothing and you can tell me what
you think about this, I don'tknow if you grew up in poverty
or had like a wild backgroundlike that.
Yeah yeah, it's almost like you.
You only know failure.
(06:13):
So if you fall it's kind of notthat scary.
It's more like I don't want tostay here, I need to figure
something out.
So I just go at that really,really hard with anything I do.
Walt Bayliss (06:28):
And do you think that's the same with anyone?
Do you think that, like lookingat the success for your clients
or people that you're workingwith?
Do you feel like that's a leveryou can pull for anyone, in any
business?
If you do the right thing, it'sgreat, but if you do the right
thing at 10X, baby, stand back.
This is going to rock.
Is that a formula that youengage?
Rachel Pedersen (06:48):
Yes, but there's one missing thing that
most people don't understand.
So a lot of people will be likeI want to do that and they'll go
and hire like an agency, andthey'll be like I want to hit a
hundred thousand followers, Iwant this.
That the other thing they hirethe agency, the agency's posting
five to 10 times a day andsomething just isn't clicking.
And it's because everything hasto start with the right fuel.
So is the fuel like I want this, I crave this, I desire this,
(07:12):
et cetera, like this issomething good in my life or is
the fuel ego?
And the interesting thing isbased on what the fuel is, and
I've seen this time and timeagain with clients.
I won't say any names, but whenego takes over, it trickles
down even in the videos thatthey create and the photos that
they shoot and the things thatthey're talking about, whether
it's ego or wanting to getrevenge, if there's a negative
(07:36):
fuel, it goes all the waythrough the pipeline and I've
seen this and it's really hardto explain
Walt Bayliss (07:43):
how do you coach to conduct to combat that?
Rachel Pedersen (07:46):
Oh man, I don't , and I know that sounds kind of
weird, but I'm like if I weregiving you the marketing and the
therapizing side of things, I'dhave to charge a lot more and
be a lot more credentialed.
But I'll sometimes just saylike hey, so, and I keep it
light.
Before you record your content,I want you to take five minutes
(08:07):
.
Here's a YouTube video I wantyou to watch and just close your
eyes.
Listen to this for five minutes, and sometimes that will help.
But sometimes people will belike I'm stressed and I have all
this stuff to do with mybusiness and I'm like, oh my
gosh, that is carrying over intoyour content and people are
repelled because you're stressed.
Walt Bayliss (08:23):
Yeah, wow.
So so you're not coaching,you're not coaching through it,
because everybody's got to walktheir own path right, which is
which is absolutely right.
Um, but what's the flip side ofthat, Rachel?
What's the?
So, if that ego or negativityis flowing into people's content
and that's affecting them, theymake it, they're doing all this
stuff, but you know it's nothitting the notes.
Um what's the what's the flipside of that?
(08:50):
How do people approach it andwin?
Rachel Pedersen (08:50):
Okay?
So one of the biggest things is, when you look at your entire
business and everything youcould create content about,
don't create content about thestuff you hate.
Don't create content about thestuff that is exhausting to talk
about.
I've actually seen a lot ofinfluencers, and some of my
clients as well, where theynever actually delivered
anything about their actualbusiness model.
They only talked about likemindset or something, and it
worked really well because theywere so passionate about it that
(09:12):
they attracted people to them.
So look for what sparks likejoy and love and a desire to you
know, slow down and teach andsupport and inspire, like when
those things happen.
That's the right fuel andthat's the time to create.
Yeah, you know, Walt, sometimesI'll step away when I'm supposed
(09:32):
to create content and I'll sayI'm cranky right now Cause I saw
this one thing that made melike feel off.
And my husband will be like doyou want to go play around a
Mario cart, or do you want tomake something?
You know, food wise?
Like let's get you into adifferent state.
And then it helps me shift.
And then I'm like, okay, now Ican create again.
Walt Bayliss (09:49):
I love that.
I love that.
And looking at your content,like when I look at, I scrolled
some of your Instagram reels andyou know, as I mentioned before
, we're just looking through toget to know you.
You, you live that.
Like I can look through yourcontent, there's not any posts.
I would say like I'm surethere's probably 10% somewhere,
but there's not any posts thatseem to be.
You should do this in yourbusiness.
This is how you should.
You're literally just talkingabout who you are, what you're
(10:11):
doing, how you're feeling andthe joy that you're bringing
into the work, that you have,like you're living that.
So getting into a differentstate.
That's interesting to me Again.
Is that a tip that youconsciously do before you create
?
Are you actively gettingyourself into that state every
single time?
Rachel Pedersen (10:29):
Yes.
So this is something I did forquite a few years and then I
stopped doing it and over theyears I noticed that my attitude
and performance went downsignificantly, like across the
board, and I was like, Ooh, I'mseeing that, Like I'm having to
restart some like positivemomentum, and so I was pulling
from old videos to like restartthat and then get into a better
(10:51):
state before creating.
I do this before any part of mybusiness now and it has made a
massive difference.
Like I'm talking hundreds ofpercent worth of growth.
But here's the biggest thinglike, Walt, I'm having fun, and
so I'm having fun and I'mcreating and enjoying the
process.
People sense that on the otherside and so the more you can get
(11:14):
yourself into a good placebefore you create anything for
your business, the better.
Walt Bayliss (11:19):
Nice.
I read somewhere one of yourposts you were talking about.
Not every post will go viraland you talk a lot about the
doctor's call their office thepractice, so getting this
content regularly.
You're seeing hits.
I'm seeing some of your TikToksare half a million views and
above and I know the TikTokchannel has got an issue at the
moment, but there's a rebuildingphase and again, I'm seeing
(11:40):
that going through.
So I'm actually I'm loving thefact that I'm seeing you grow
that again from nothing, whichis incredible.
But yeah, so some of yourInstagram reels, some of your
posts, are getting half amillion views and some are
getting 150.
But it doesn't affect yourcadence.
You're literally just goingthrough that practice to hit the
(12:01):
thing.
Can you tell me your analogyabout the basketball side of
things, because I think that'sreally apt
Rachel Pedersen (12:06):
which one
Walt Bayliss (12:07):
You're talking about?
Practice being on the court?
Rachel Pedersen (12:10):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, okay.
So this is really big.
I think about this all the time.
This is true for businessowners, social media managers,
marketers, anyone who has tocreate content.
Most of the time, what we do iswe're like, okay, I'm going to
post three to five times a day,I'm going to supercharge things,
make it happen.
You do that for about a week.
(12:31):
You don't get the results thatyou want, so you stop.
But the thing about practice isit is not dependent upon whether
or not you win a game.
You don't say, oh, I lost thatgame.
This whole practice thing isn'tworking, and so I'm a big
believer of call it a practice.
This isn't something where youhave to get results.
(12:52):
Results might be like an addedbenefit.
That's kind of exciting.
Like, as I'm building my TikTokback up for the second time,
I'm like you know what I'm justgonna get that practice in.
I'm going to remember what itis to create new things and find
new trends and all of that.
It's just practice and thatreally it truly takes the
pressure out of posting andcreating.
(13:14):
Um, I think a lot about likeall of the legends in basketball
.
I actually don't likebasketball, which is really
funny.
I like football and otherthings, but not basketball.
All the legends seem to talkabout how they would, like you
know, go and do 500 shots everymorning before practice and I
(13:34):
was like I love that concept, ifwe were all to just keep
practicing regardless of whetheror not the results are coming.
I think sometimes you get theresults a lot faster because you
stick on it.
Walt Bayliss (13:44):
I love it.
I love it.
I was listening to 10X isEasier Than 2X by Dan Sullivan.
Rachel Pedersen (13:49):
Oh yeah
Walt Bayliss (13:50):
I was talking about this concept of the
off-camera work, and this isexactly what you're talking
about here.
Where it's the off-camera work,even though you might have the
camera on, it's not the postthat goes viral, that makes your
viral post happen, it's all theposts in between, where you're
practicing your craft, whenyou're working out your message,
(14:11):
and then when you run on thefield.
You've taken enough throws,you've taken enough tackles,
you've hit enough that that onejust rockets.
And I love that analogy wherewe're talking about sporting
superstars.
The best quarterbacks in theworld are getting paid hundreds
of millions of dollars to play13 minutes on a Saturday right,
it's like, but it's the offfield work that does it.
(14:32):
So, doing that practice, Rachel, when?
So you've built this incrediblefollowing.
You have amazing, amazinglyloyal people who are in your
threads and in your channel, andI see the ones that don't fit
that mold, and that's okay,because they're part of the
audience as well.
When did you start to describeyourself as an influencer?
Rachel Pedersen (14:55):
This is interesting because I have never
actually referred to myself asan influencer, with the
exception of one weird round ofbios randomly had influencer in
it.
I don't remember when or how ithappened, but I remember one
day I looked at my profile and Iwas like influencer no, take
(15:18):
that off the list.
Which is interesting because Iknow I've built influence in the
space of like business,marketing and books, believe it
or not, but I don't see myselfas an influencer because our
sponsorship deals that we makeare a small part of our revenue
it's so small.
(15:38):
So, if anything, I'm like okay,it's more like a business buddy
who also recommends the bestthings, tries out tools I don't
know, but I don't see myself asyeah, I don't see myself as an
influencer.
Isn't that weird?
I've never
Walt Bayliss (15:53):
it's very weird.
I'm talking to Rachel Pedersenand she doesn't see herself as
an influencer.
When you post,
Rachel Pedersen (15:59):
yeah
people listen, like you'reamazing.
So I mean, take away theaudience.
You're a mom, you're aninfluencer by default.
Like what you say, people, itmatters to people and they
listen.
Um, so I find that fascinating.
So one of the things thatyou've talked about as well is
that you have this highs andlows when it comes to fame and
(16:21):
infamy and viral.
Standing on stage doing thatkind of stuff and physically
asking yourself, whoa, that wasa high and a bit of a crash like
, damn, what's next?
Do you still go through thatnow?
Do you have, do you still havethat highs and lows with the
feeling of success and contentand and message, and then whoa,
(16:42):
yep
Walt Bayliss (16:43):
that's done, what's next?
Do you still have that?
Rachel Pedersen (16:45):
oh so there's two things and they kind of
intertwine.
So there's that side of thebusiness that we all experience,
right the high, and then thelike.
I just feel like dirt andnothing feels important because
yesterday it was so important orwhatever.
There's that side, and thenthere's also the side that I'm
bipolar, and so because I'mbipolar I naturally can feel
(17:08):
myself shifting back and forthbetween hey, let's go manic or
hypomanic to let's stay in bedall day, like everything sucks.
So something that I've beendoing that helps with both sides
of that equation that bipolarand then the, the highs and then
the crashes of reality.
Number one is when I start tofeel myself get way too amped up
(17:29):
, I go stop.
The higher we go here, thelower the crash is going to be
later, because if somethingrequires that energy and
adrenaline, like we got tobalance this out, something that
really helps me is when I getto do events and big things with
Paul.
My husband Paul is so great andhe's um, he's really balanced.
Like nothing gets him excitedabout, like meeting people or
(17:53):
even talking to celebrities.
He doesn't care.
So he's just so calm that I canalmost just go and like ground
myself just by being with him.
Um, that helps a lot.
And then, um, something elsethat really has been helping too
is I've been trying this soundsso cheesy and so millennial,
but I've been really working tolike glamorize and love the
(18:15):
moments in life that feel somundane.
You know how it's like you goand you speak at an event and
then your kids are still likemom, come wipe my butt, you know
, or whatever, and you're like Idon't feel glamorous at all.
I've started to just kind offall in love with the
in-betweens, the things thatdon't seem important.
Walt Bayliss (18:34):
Rachel, are you telling me that you're living
life?
Is this what you're telling me?
Are you telling me that you'refinding joy?
In life.
Is that what's going on here?
that's fantastic.
Rachel Pedersen (18:45):
n I also think most people don't even know it
exists, because it took me along time to experience it, you
know, but it's, it's beautiful.
So that helps me not get asjazzed about the highs.
Be around people who like bringyou back to earth a little bit,
because otherwise you startbelieving your own um hype,
which gets weird.
Walt Bayliss (19:04):
I love it.
Well, I mean you.
You come across so sobeautifully well, so so humble
and so and yet so controlled inin your direction, which is,
which is absolutely amazing.
You mentioned.
There's something about that Iwanted to dive into for for a
second.
So, as we talk with withinfluencers, and one of the
things that constantly amazes meis that, on a survey of school
children, school-aged highschool kids, over 50% responded
(19:27):
to the question what do you wantto do after school?
By saying they want to be aninfluencer.
So we want to create thisamazing space where people can
come and entertain, educate, beenthusiastic and create that
attention.
You said something there aboutsponsorships which I thought was
really fascinating.
When, when did influence becomecashflow?
Rachel Pedersen (19:50):
Oh, um, oh.
For me, like, when did I get myfirst sponsorship?
It was, oh gosh, I I don't wantto mess up the dates, but I
want to say it was close to um,maybe seven years ago that I got
my first sponsorship.
Let's see, would that be great.
Walt Bayliss (20:07):
What happened?
How did it come to be?
Rachel Pedersen (20:10):
I don't even remember my first one, which is
so, actually, yes, I do.
It was 2015.
I was still in my day job andthis guy was like hey, I saw
your videos.
I like your videos.
Would you be willing to tryghost pepper jerky on your
channel for a reaction?
So I got a free bag of ghostpepper jerky.
(20:30):
Did not want to eat more thanone slice of it.
It was hot, hot, hot, hot and Irecorded a reaction video.
That was my first one ever.
And then I want to say I don'trecall.
Walt Bayliss (20:43):
That brand, by the way, is celebrating their move
right now, like seven years old,you're still chatting about it.
It's amazing,
isn't that so funny?
Yeah, and then I just you know,I got some smaller ones over the
years where people would belike, can I pay you like $200 to
post about us on Instagram?
But I always had the rule andthis was really big and I
(21:05):
recommend this for anyone who'slike new to becoming an
influencer or gettingsponsorships.
I always said, like I need tomake sure that this brand aligns
, so you have to either send mea sample or let me log into your
software or see what, like, thebackend of everything looks
like.
So I've heavily vetted a lot ofmy sponsorships and it's kept
me from ever feeling like asellout even though there have
been some big deals where I justcouldn't recommend whatever it
(21:27):
was they were offering.
Yeah, nice, I love it.
So is there a directcorrelation for you in, in your
following compared to yourbusiness income, like, is there
a line that you can draw betweenboth as your, as your influence
is growing, so is your company,so is your, so is the bank
account?
Rachel Pedersen (21:41):
Ooh, most of the time, yes, but there's one
thing that I've noticed reallyoverrides things, and that's if
I'm like not mentally, but ifI'm just in a funk for a while.
It doesn't seem like we haveany followers at that point, or
email subscribers.
It's impossible to get peopleto jump into anything because
(22:02):
I'm not excited about it.
But besides that, across theboard, I've noticed like, yes,
which is kind of cool.
Walt Bayliss (22:10):
Can I ask you a favor?
Can I get you to?
Can I get you to look back fora moment?
When we started, when westarted this call, I read out
some numbers for you 160,000people subscribe to your YouTube
channel.
Over 400,000 people follow youon one of the Facebook pages and
another 300,000 people onanother one.
Over 340,000 people follow youon Instagram.
(22:32):
I just want to get you to pausefor a second and look back at
where you've come from, becausethose numbers are absolutely
amazing.
like the view from where you'reat and I know you've still got
mountains to climb but the viewfrom where you're at.
When you look back, there's aheck of a lot of people that are
(22:54):
grateful to who you are andwhat you're doing, and you're
bringing that message with youall the way, and I just I
couldn't applaud you enough forthat.
Rachel Pedersen (23:03):
Thank you so much.
I have a lot of moments where Isit back and I'm just I still
this is going to sound funnybecause I'm not like a celebrity
or anything, but there are Istill feel like such just a
normal person, you know likeespecially when I'm in my home
setting and with my family.
And so when I look at thosekind of numbers or like my kids
(23:31):
have friends over and they'll belike is that a YouTube
subscribe play button, and I'mlike, yeah, I get kind of like
almost embarrassed, but then I'mlike, wait a second, that's
something to be so proud of.
But it still feels wild becausethere's so much of me that is
still the same girl who startedthis whole journey, you know.
Walt Bayliss (23:45):
That's cool and I think that's why that's why it
works so well for you.
So what's what's a day in thelife for you now Like maybe even
a week in the life?
What's what is what is a dayworth for you?
What is a week look like?
And you know you've got yourteam around you and the whole
world going on.
What does that daily life looklike for you?
Rachel Pedersen (24:03):
Okay.
So Paul and I wake up in themorning, the first thing we do
is we make the bed every morning.
So we make the bed quick, pickup the whole house before the
kids wake up.
It's usually only like a fiveminute pickup because we pick up
usually close to before bed too, and then we get.
He gets the kids ready while Iprepare our breakfast, like the
(24:23):
healthy breakfast that we'reeating.
We usually go on a walk two tothree miles in the morning and
listen to memoirs from businessowners and celebrities and, like
Shoe Dog is our favorite handsdown.
Walt Bayliss (24:37):
Oh my gosh, oh my God.
Reddit.
I've like ingested it, it's sogood.
Rachel Pedersen (24:43):
So good, so funny, so real, so, oh, it's
amazing.
Um, and then we actually thishas been the last couple of
months, this has been newer sowe've actually been working in
our like, formal dining room uh,sorry, formal living room, and
we're sitting side by side onthe couch working on different
things at the same time.
So Paul's been gettingcross-trained in how to manage
(25:04):
social media, like me, because Ilove the idea of me being able
to like airdrop photos and belike hey, can you just post this
.
And he's also testing forsomething else, which is I'll
talk about that in a moment um,and then, yeah, we, I make lunch
at home um five days a week, soI'll make lunch and then we eat
lunch, we talk, we go onanother walk, um, we play mario
(25:26):
kart.
Um, he does household things.
I finish up work and then it's.
This is like really boring, Ifeel like
Walt Bayliss (25:35):
no, this is life
Rachel Pedersen (25:36):
we take breaks where we write in our fantasy
fiction novel throughout the day, and then, um, let's see the
kids.
We do family dinners everysingle night.
Him or I take turns cooking.
Um, we do a lot of movies,movie nights, either with the
kids or with me and Paul, andthen every night I work on
coding my new software that'sgoing to be coming out very,
(25:59):
very soon.
Walt Bayliss (26:00):
So I'm excited to hear about that.
We'll make sure we give that abig plug for you as well.
What is it?
Can you give us the over?
What does it do, or is there?
Do you want to keep the wrapson it for now?
Rachel Pedersen (26:09):
I can share this.
It creates all of your contentthat's in your voice, with one
click.
Walt Bayliss (26:15):
Oh yeah, and created by the social media
queen herself.
So this sounds super exciting.
You're sitting on the couch,you've got the work going on,
you've got the vision of thesoftware coming through.
You've got a company to run.
How many people are in the teamnow with you?
Rachel Pedersen (26:30):
Oh, I am so bad at keeping track of this.
There are four.
Five, all right.
Don't take my word for this,because I'm not 100% at any
given time.
Okay, there are six full-timepeople I'm pretty sure, but
don't quote me on that and threefreelancers or part-time people
(26:54):
.
Walt Bayliss (26:55):
Wow, Amazing.
So part of your work, I wouldimagine, is getting the next
step over to them, keeping thatbig picture and making sure that
they're all working in line.
Did you?
When did you get your firstteam member?
Did you?
Did you do it solo for a whileand then just like need somebody
to help?
Rachel Pedersen (27:11):
Okay.
So I built this business ofspecifically the social media
management side while I wasstill in a nine to five, so I
was like working on my lunchbreaks in the mornings, nights,
anytime.
I finished my work early, but Iactually built up the side gig
to fully replace my nine to fivebefore I left my nine to five.
(27:33):
So I hired a VA while I was inmy nine to five just to manage
emails and make sure I didn'tmiss anything.
Yeah, and I think I only had herfor like two or three hours a
week, so it was super affordable, but it like got me through the
time where I was doubling up.
Walt Bayliss (27:49):
Wow, amazing, and I think that's such a massive
lesson that entrepreneurs learnby struggling, and it's great
that you picked it up so quickly.
And now, of course, you knowyou get to be the conductor of
the orchestra.
While the orchestra are playing, you get to set the beat, which
is really, really cool.
So, starting now, as we said,you've got TikTok on the regrow,
you know, you've got thisincredible software coming
(28:12):
through, you've got greatprojects that you're working on.
How much of your energy isfocused on what to do next and
how much of your energy is spenton who I am, what I do in here,
in the family, in the home,like what's your energy ratio,
do you think?
Rachel Pedersen (28:27):
Okay, ooh, what do we do next?
That is probably I keep it lowon purpose, because otherwise I
go all in too fast and I'vestill done this very quickly.
Um, so I try to keep it under40%, focused on like what's next
and new future projects thataren't immediately applicable,
(28:51):
and I spend a lot of time I'moverly introspective about, like
, how am I doing as a mom?
What is my place in this world?
What is my real identity?
Am I loud or am I reserved,like, or am I both?
I don't know.
I spend a lot of time learningabout that and then I end up
going down psychology likerabbit holes a lot just to learn
(29:12):
about the human brain.
I find it so fascinating why wedo the things that we do.
So, yeah, that's probablycloser to like 60%, I don't know
, it was 120%, an option
Walt Bayliss (29:24):
Only for entrepreneurs, that's like there
is.
Only entrepreneurs have thatsetting.
That's very cool.
So what's the biggest mistakeyou've made in this whole
journey?
Rachel Pedersen (29:35):
Oh my gosh, there's not just one.
Some people, I feel like, canlearn things from other people's
mistakes and they listen toadvice, and I'm not that person,
so I've learned you either.
It's so hard.
I've made pretty much everysingle mistake that you can make
, um, and one of the big onesthat I've made would be
(29:57):
partnerships.
I'm not great at partnerships.
Um, I'm not even gonna say it'sthe people that I tried to
partner with.
I think that the way I work isreally hard.
For a lot of people it's kindof obsessive If I'm not careful.
It's obsessive.
I want to try to perfecteverything as much as possible
(30:20):
and over-deliver.
This sounds like good things,but they're not Over-deliver
with excellence.
Then I become really hard onmyself and the project if it's
not So partnerships have beenhard because I just haven't met
somebody that quite matches thatin this not even matches it,
but balances it.
Paul's probably the bestbusiness partner I've had.
(30:42):
We've done pretty well together.
Walt Bayliss (30:44):
I would say that that's a pretty strong that's a
pretty strong base to start from.
That's pretty good.
Rachel Pedersen (30:48):
And we're so opposite that it actually makes
sense.
It just like it ebbs and flowswith each other really well.
Another huge mistake that Imade for a long time was not
stashing away enough cash andsetting myself up for like
long-term success sooner.
So, like my first many, manymillions, I was like I'm going
(31:11):
to get my teeth done, I'm goingto buy my in-laws a car, like,
and so I, just I, I.
It's not that I wasted it, it'sjust it's not here anymore.
So, yeah, as soon as you canlike, just start stashing money
away for, like retirement orinvestments or anything Um yeah
(31:34):
, the third biggest mistake Ithink that I have made Ooh is
that when I first started mybusiness, I did it not based on
something I was passionate aboutbut, based on something that I
could get good at Does that makesense, Like yeah, it was a, it
was a path, it was a potential,and so I've had to like work,
(31:57):
even though the last few years,to like find a new way to fall
in love with social media andcontent and tying it back into
psychology and human behavioralscience, that's helped a lot.
But I'm like, oh my gosh, if Iwould have, you know, just gone
slightly this way or slightly inthis direction, I might've been
able to done, have done thedone for you and scaled the
(32:21):
agency side better.
Walt Bayliss (32:23):
Okay, nice, I love it.
So, like there's, there's goingto be people listening to this,
uh, this podcast that are justgetting started there.
They're they're wanting tocreate that following and that
influence.
Rachel, what would you say?
What would you say you would dodifferently or how would you
you guide them as a potentialfuture influencer, someone that
your kids will be listening toon YouTube in you know, in a few
years time?
(32:43):
What would you say to thatperson today to help them on
their journey to get started?
Rachel Pedersen (32:48):
Oh man.
So number one before you startcreating, make sure you, your
partner, your spouse, whatever,and even sometimes your kids,
depending on their ages you guyshave clear boundaries of.
This is what we won't talkabout on camera, because it's
really easy to just be like, oh,there's this trend and before
(33:09):
you know it, you say things thatyou wish you hadn't said online
.
So that's a big one.
Paul and I have clear like hereare things we won't talk about,
or our sentences that phrase usaway from a topic for, like
interviews and stuff.
That's number one.
Number two is just spend sometime studying your favorite
(33:32):
celebrities comment sections,and the reason for that is
because I want you not to bediscouraged, but instead to be
like okay, I think, fill in theblank, selena Gomez is wonderful
, I think Adam Sandler iswonderful, or whatever.
Fill in the blank, go and lookat how many people hate on them
actively, because you have torecognize that it's not personal
(33:54):
and these people don't knowthem, and they're making this
decision based on a movie thatperson did five years ago or
whatever.
So study that and just knowthat comments are not personal.
Number three is when you aretriggered by comments or if
you're going viral or goingthrough an attack online, which
can happen rightfully andwrongfully.
So make sure that you deletethe app from your phone and
(34:19):
don't log in until it's over.
Because, otherwise, yeah, theoverwhelm.
I've gone viral, good and bad,both ways many times, and the
bad ones it can make you feellike the world is over.
And you get all those pings andnotifications and every single
one is like you suck.
I hope you fall off a cliff,like I hope you.
You know, like those kinds ofthings, it can be too much.
(34:40):
So delete the app or havesomeone that you trust, like
change your password for a fewdays and let them just monitor
it.
Tell them not to reply toanything.
So that's yeah, that's probablythose are the biggest things I
would say, but it's, it's a wildadventure.
Walt Bayliss (34:57):
What about?
What about monetization?
I have a little section that Ilike to call the monetization
minute.
For those people that arestarting, what would you suggest
as their best ways ofgenerating income from this
influence in 60 seconds or less,Like what's the?
What's your thoughts there?
Rachel Pedersen (35:11):
Number one create lead magnets, free
resources, et cetera.
Get people on your email list,make that your main focus beyond
creating content.
That's where you want to directpeople to.
And then, number two create anoffer Um, that's maybe low
ticket to build trust $7, $24,whatever and email that to your
(35:34):
list along with some value aboutwhatever topic it is that
you're diving into.
Repeat create content.
Walt Bayliss (35:42):
Amazing Done.
That's it Exactly.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are inthe presence of greatness
Rachel Peterson, the queen ofsocial media.
The journey that you've gonethrough is absolutely
inspirational to me, Even justlooking at some of the posts and
your comments there about howto deal with the haters and
stuff online.
You're one of the strongest, Iguess, moral, compass based
(36:04):
people that I've come across inour search.
I highly suggest for anybodythat's listening guys, get
across to rachelpetersoncom.
We'll make sure that the linkis in the show notes.
Get in touch with this lady.
She's amazing.
She's a trailblazer.
Rachel, thank you so much forspending the time.
I've really loved your insightsinto the world of being an
(36:25):
influencer.
Is there anything else thatyou'd like to chat through
before we wrap?
Any messages you'd like to sendout?
Rachel Pedersen (36:32):
Ooh, this is going to sound interesting, but
anytime anyone listening to thisgets stuck.
If you are working ondeveloping a software or getting
your social media content out,take a couple of moments.
Close your eyes and think fiveor 10 years ahead.
Think to that future version ofyourself and ask yourself what
(36:54):
did they likely do that createdexactly where they are today,
and then decide if you want toreplicate those steps.
Walt Bayliss (37:01):
I love it Connecting the dots backwards
Absolutely incredible.
Rachel Peterson.
Thank you so much.
Guys.
Rachelpetersoncom.
Get in touch with Rachel,follow along on every channel,
your channel of choice.
Rachel.
Again thank you to you and toPaul and the kids for making the
time available.
We cannot wait to follow yourstory along.
Please pop back in and tell usabout the software as it's going
live.
We want to make sure we givethat a plug for you guys as well
(37:23):
.
And guys, get in touch withRachel.
This is the way forward tofollow people who are really
blazing the trail.
Rachel, thank you so much foryour time.
Rachel Pedersen (37:36):
Thank you for having me.
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